A Totally Materialistic Post about New STUFF

Okay, I'm not usually this shallow, but I've decided that today's post will be a pretty selfish, self-indulgent kind of post. I just want to show off some of my new stuff! I guess it's the slight change in weather (there's a little cool nip in the air in the morning when I take the kids to school), but I've been getting a few new things to put up in the den and it's just feeling so much more cozy in there. Mostly stuff in browns and tans . .. stuff that just makes it feel like Fall and that make me want to lie down on the couch, turn on some dim lamps, and just lie there feeling comfortable.

Okay, so I started with some new curtains. The ones we had in there were sheer and the cats had pretty much clawed the whole bottom foot off of them. Time for something new.

These are just too cozy-feeling, and Gary actually really likes them (a pretty good accomplishment, when it comes to decorating stuff!). Kinda makes me think of hot chocolate for some reason!

The next thing was to find a rug. Our last one was destroyed in the hot water heater disaster (go back about two weeks in my posts if you care to re-live that or missed it in the first place. Yuck!) and then we'd gone without one for about two weeks (we have a tile floor in our den). Gary didn't really want one, but I do not like bare floors. So I guess I wore him down . .. or maybe I just told him I was buying a rug. LOL!

Anyway, the idea here was nothing floral, nothing Oriental, just something simple and graphic that looks kinda macho (and, again, comfy!). I like it.

Then, on that same shopping day, I found this pillow that I just LOVE. I love the colors and the cool paisley thing going on. (Plus it was a great Walmart find; like only $13!). I'd a bought three or four of them, but I respect Gary's dislike of pillows in any fashion (I sleep with like three under my head and all around me; Gary throws them off the bed. And he finds ones on couches to just be a hassle!).



Then while at said Walmart, I found these little bottles for 88 cents. How could I resist? I just love the shape of them and they made me happy! I bought three (don't odd numbers work for design? I think I heard that somewhere) and still haven't quite figured out if I like where I put them or not. Still experimenting! Here's one of them.


Now, here comes the really indulgent shopping spree! I went and got all this really great stuf from my local scrapbook store! Gary got me a gift card as one of my birthday cards and I got a ton of stuff with it (only went like $8 over the amount!). Here's the big pile of it, plus a close-up of some of it.


Lots of patterned paper, stickers, cardstock shapes, journaling blocks, chipboard letters (love them!), alterable wall letters (see below!), and that cutest little paisley-shaped chipboard journal (the plan now is to try and put together some little mini beach album. We'll see!)

I've already started making some creations with all of this great stuff (thanks Gary!!), and the first two things I immediately did were two more things for more den wall.

Blogging friend and ScrapEtc. designer Virginia (www.blackflipflops.blogspot.com ) had this awesome quote link on her site where I found a beautiful quote that I just knew I wanted to put on a wall frame with some pictures of the girls. So, I made the frame; and then I altered my "W" for the wall.

On the first picture, you can see the "W" and the frame and then also a really great picture that I got for my birthday of the University of Alabama President's Mansion (I'm kinda weird; I like pictures of buildings!). Then the other two pictures give you a little more close-up of the letter and the frame.
I love the "5 W's" I put on the letter frame! Back when I was in journalism school, we talked often of the 5 W's in reporting a story--the who, what, when, where, and why. But now I have my own 5 W's in my family--Gary W, Cheryl W, McKenna W, Delaney W, and Sydney W. Pretty cool!

And in case you can't read the quote on the frame, it says (and sorry about that glare!):

"There are lives I can imagine without children, but none of them have the same laughter and noise." I think all of you with children can identify and agree with that. I just love it!!

Now . . . I wasn't the only person who's gotten some new "stuff" lately. Yesterday, Sydney got to play with a special little surprise that came from her Aunt Angel. It's one of those bouncy ball paddle toys. And this one had Dora on it!


She totally loves this toy and would yell, "I can do it! I can do it!" over and over again. (Of course, her version of doing it was just jumping up and down repeatedly and slapping the ball against the floor. This also caused the string to come out of the paddle repeatedly, and we had to go to the second copy of it that her Aunt Angel bought for her for just such a situation!) She was too cute playing with it!! And that's some cheap joy--a toy that costs less than a dollar!

My last real treat of the day came from Gary, who called me after lunch and had to tell me that the company had brought in lunch from Zoe's, one of my favorite restaurants! I begged him to find me a piece of chocolate cake and he DID! It is SO good, you cannot imagine! (He also brought him a leftover box of their yummy chicken kabobs, rice, and Greek salad with feta!) Oh man, was it all good!

Thanks for indulging me today with this talk of the new STUFF in my life! I promise that I do have a serious side (just read my post from yesterday!), but sometimes you just gotta celebrate the little stuff that brings you joy. And if that includes a pillow and a piece of cake, so be it!

Well, I’m seriously sleepy now! It’s almost 1 in the morning and I need to go get comfy with my pillows upstairs. Here’s hoping I have sweet dreams of more new curtains and patterned paper . . and cash in my pocket to get it!